Phase-Rushing the Instance

"Snip, snip..."

Zhang Anzai had no idea how much longer he had been cutting. Another paper cutout was placed in one of the few remaining empty spots on the desk.

A segment of lotus root suddenly appeared on the desk, covered in mud. Its condition was already quite perfect, though some of the broken edges still looked unnatural, and it lacked the distinct fragrance of fresh lotus root.

Zhang Anzai kept his head down and cut one sheet after another, paying no attention to anything else. At most, he would sit up straight and tug at the stiff muscles in his back.

Then Zhang Anzai raised his hand.

A tiny Blue Flash Butterfly scattered the scales from its wings as it slowly flew upward.

"Did you go back and work again last night?"

When Zhang Anzai sat down at his workstation, he looked utterly drained.

"Yeah. I talked with that player pretty late," Zhang Anzai said. Before the computer page even loaded, he lay down on the desk and closed his eyes to rest for a while.

Lin Zhao had indeed guessed right. What Zhang Anzai had done was not the usual work of an administrator, but purchasing training programs and urging players to properly practice using their equipment were also among an administrator's duties.

It was just that he was both the one doing the urging and the player being trained.

"So that last-minute brush with death really got to you. You're working this hard now."

That was what Lin Zhao said, but she herself had never been lazy. Recently, she had been dragged along and become even more diligent. She had specifically bought a jianbing guozi for breakfast today, making it easy to bring to her workstation and start work early while eating.

Overwork: turning people into ghosts.

"What about you? Starting another one? Did you finish yesterday's instance?"

Zhang Anzai glanced at the instance on Lin Zhao's screen. A brawny man around thirty was wielding a massive nine-ring saber, trading blows with someone inside a black cage surrounded by a crowd.

There was no need to think too hard to know it was probably a martial-chaos-type instance. It was some modern underground fighting arena, the sort of situation that could conceivably exist in reality.

"Yeah, it's settled. Wasn't it your suggestion, Anzai?" Lin Zhao replied as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

Zhang Anzai instantly stopped feeling sleepy. "What the hell?"

"Paying off his debt with his ass. After I told him that, he went to find Grandmother Hu San, the one in charge at the Ghost Market. Turns out that guy was greedy and useless, but he really did have some talent for living off a woman.

"When I woke up this morning, I found that he'd spent the whole night attending to Grandmother Hu San, keeping her company while she listened to opera. She was happy, so she directly forgave his debt. She even gave him a Soldier-Assisting Formula, a Class C special item.

"After the mission ended, he even thanked me. But that was your suggestion, so really, that thanks should go to you."

Lin Zhao was staring intently at the scene on the screen, so she was merely stating the facts without much emotional fluctuation.

Zhang Anzai, listening beside her, wore an extraordinarily vivid expression.

"That fucking works too?! You actually opened up a whole new track! Then what was all my instance exploration—muting everything and going downstairs, hiding around corners for stealth kills, getting jumpscared and killed? Was I just cursed with bad luck?"

Lin Zhao watched the screen for a while. The match seemed to have reached halftime, and she finally let out a breath. Her voice was no longer quite so flat. "What's wrong?"

Looking at her rather innocent expression, Zhang Anzai said, "Nothing, nothing."

Leaning back in his office chair and swaying from side to side, he thought to himself:

Everyone has their own opportunities. Forget it. Being able to live off a woman is a skill too. Being a gigolo isn't easy either. There's no way I could know the hardships behind it, quack.

He comforted himself that way, yet he still somewhat longed for the days when a rich woman would simply keep him, and he would not have to struggle while managing two ports at once.

Speaking of personal opportunities, he looked at Lin Zhao's screen. "This uncle's pretty skilled. His head wrapping and body movements work well with his footwork. That saber technique must be at a high level, right?"

Before entering this place, Zhang Anzai knew absolutely nothing about fighting, historical combat, or anything like that. The same went for folk customs.

But after seeing all sorts of players and helping with their instance exploration, his knowledge of all kinds of strange subjects had gradually grown.

As for the player on Lin Zhao's screen, Zhang Anzai could not understand the forms he used, but he could at least tell that his saber fundamentals were solid and point out a few things about them.

Lin Zhao stared at the match on the screen, which had resumed after halftime, and slipped back into that emotionally flat tone.

"Tch, not at all. His backhand is weak, his forehand lacks precision, his footwork is loose, his reactions are slow. Not a single form is decent. It's only because his opponent hasn't trained properly..."

"Huh?" Zhang Anzai was completely dumbfounded.

Lin Zhao seemed to snap out of a dream. "Oh! This person... he said all that himself. He said he had some martial arts background when he was younger, but he had to take care of his family as he got older, so he hadn't practiced in a long time. Everything just now was how he used to insult himself."

She explained briefly, then immediately turned her gaze back to the screen, hands resting on the keyboard and mouse as she waited to switch items.

Zhang Anzai did not disturb her further. Another day had begun; it was time to work seriously.

The department remained much the same. The Dog-Head Team Leader occasionally wandered around, while new and veteran employees alike wore bitter expressions as they communicated remotely with players who might have looked even more miserable than they did.

It was actually quite similar to an ordinary company. There were not that many random incidents in daily life, just tedious routine workdays.

Of course, Zhang Anzai had more to look forward to than most. "Work harder. Make more money. After all, in another day or two, it'll be time to make a move."

Thursday, the fifteenth day of the tenth lunar month.

Perhaps because they operated a folk-custom game, the company-issued phones and computers came equipped with complicated traditional almanac software that popped up in a small window as soon as the screen turned on.

Zhang Anzai had already developed the habit of glancing at it now and then.

"Today is suitable for weddings and funerals, cleaning, travel, signing contracts, and... send me fifty."

Another Crazy Thursday. At the company, though they could still eat a family bucket in the cafeteria, they could not leave after all.

"Suitable for travel? Nice."

Zhang Anzai prepared to enter an instance.

The reason he did not wait until his seven days of rest were over was a judgment based on experience.

Generally speaking, a formal employee's first instance came with newbie benefits. The matched difficulty would not increase, so it was usually not difficult to clear.

Besides, since he had gained such a special ability, he naturally did not want to slowly coast along in the position of a rookie administrator.

And clearing instances himself was obviously the fastest way to grow.

"I've rested enough, practiced with my equipment a little, and spent some points these past two days while earning some more. I have over four hundred now, plus the three hundred Old Dust I haven't touched. That should be about right."

After thinking for a moment, Zhang Anzai swallowed an Ox-Horse Invigoration Pill.

This was naturally another Ox-Horse series pill, except it had no hunger-satisfying effect at all. It purely refreshed the mind and strengthened mental power.

To keep others from noticing anything suspicious if they looked at his screen, he had specifically chosen to open an instance after work. That made this item essential.

Feeling instantly invigorated, Zhang Anzai operated his phone.

Boundary Walker, you have chosen to enter the next Reflected World ahead of schedule. Whether this act is reckless or brave will need to be determined through the exploration ahead.

No matter what, you are about to step into the reflection once more.